Au
pronunciation
How to pronounce Au in British English: UK
How to pronounce Au in American English: US
-
- Noun:
- a soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent and univalent) metallic element; occurs mainly as nuggets in rocks and alluvial deposits; does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine and aqua regia
Word Origin
- Au
- chemical symbol for "gold," from Latin aurum "gold" (see aureate).
- au
- French, "at the, to the," from Old French al, contraction of a le, with -l- softened to -u-, as also poudre from pulverem, chaud from calidus, etc. Used in many expressions in cookery, etc., which have crossed the Channel since 18c., such as au contraire, literally "on the contrary;" au gratin, literally "with scrapings;" au jus, literally "with the juice."
Example
- 1. The au mission to somalia looks even more forlorn .
- 2. The au and the government now control all of mogadishu .
- 3. The au is rightly becoming more flexible .
- 4. In comparison , the earth orbits at just 1 au .
- 5. The u.s. isn 't sweden , and not just because our blondes aren 't au naturel .